5 Considerations in Cybersecurity Plan Development

Cybersecurity Plan Development

If you’re concerned about the cybersecurity of your business’ devices, you’re not alone. Learn what aspects matter for your cybersecurity plan in our post.  

With the level of connectivity in today’s world, the need for robust and effective cybersecurity is more significant than ever. A network breach can be disastrous, making cybersecurity a vital requirement. To minimize the risk to your data, you need a written cybersecurity plan ensuring all devices used to comply with your company policies to protect physical systems from harm. While developing this plan, you’ll need to consider several factors, including compliance with government and industry laws and standards, while ensuring physical security devices work with standard tools and practices. Here are five factors you’ll want to consider your physical security devices provides significant protection against network breaches.

Cybersecurity Plan Development New Jersey

Solid Strategy: Cybersecurity Factors

Updates and Patches

An effective way to maintain cybersecurity is consistently applying patches and updates to the software. Making this a regular part of your cybersecurity strategy ensures that known and emerging vulnerabilities are addressed. This vital part of your regular maintenance schedule is often missed because nobody for certain whose responsibility it is. By assigning specific ownership of these tasks, you can ensure these updates don’t fall through the cracks and cause significant problems.

Managing Vulnerabilities

IoT and digitization means that there can be thousands of devices on your network. The assets required to stay on top of these devices can be problematic due to aspects of functionality needed to keep these devices functioning properly for both security and IT purposes, which can often be at cross-purposes to each other. For example, a security device may be manufactured with HTTPS connectivity and a self-signed security certificate, which triggers red flags during IT scans. Understanding that code used in device firmware may be borrowed from other code, which makes your business dependent on the original code vendor. The vendor will need to work with other providers to develop a patch and test it, delaying deployment and requiring your IT team to establish short-term fixes.

Replacing Equipment

Older equipment, such as security cameras, may no longer be supported by the manufacturer, creating a vector for security attacks because the firmware is not being regularly updated. For this reason, most cameras require a timeframe of five to seven years before replacement. This creates expensive, time-consuming, and labor-intensive processes if you plan on changing out all of your assets at one time. Developing a plan to replace approximately one-fifth of your assets every year for the ongoing future means that you can keep your system protected with better cybersecurity features while shifting the cost from capital to operating expense categories.

Vital Documentation

Any time you’re working with an integrator, they should be able to provide documentation that certifies that all devices and systems they’re putting into place comply with your cybersecurity policies. Because most manufacturers provide a hardening guide for security professionals to secure devices against threats, this information needs to match your cybersecurity policy, which is why it is so important to have a concrete written cybersecurity policy to ensure all physical security equipment and system meet your expectations.

Secure Your Supply Chain

Knowing where products come from and how vendors secure their devices helps ensure that your supply chain won’t become an attack vector. This includes trusted platform modules (TPM), secure firmware or secure boot options, or a combination of these three. The TPM contains onboard encryption keys and certificates that are specific to the hosting system to provide hardware authentication. Firmware is checked against the secure boot system with signed hashes from the manufacturer and in the firmware’s boot sector to ensure they haven’t been compromised. If the device firmware has malware on board, the device won’t start, providing secure protection.

By providing a robust framework against hackers, you can ensure your physical security devices don’t become an entry point to your network and deserve strong consideration in your written cybersecurity policy. If you need help with your company’s cybersecurity issues, Techsperts is here to help. Please feel free to contact us today to get started.